First look at Windows 7's User Interface — At PDC today, Microsoft gave the first public demonstration of Windows 7. Until now, the company has been uncharacteristically secretive about its new OS; over the past few months MS has let on that the taskbar will undergo a number of changes …

Windows Media Center in the PDC Build of Windows 7 — If you are attending the 2008 Professional Developers Conference you received a pre-beta Windows 7 build today (6801) which contains many features the Windows Media Center team has been developing over the past year.

Microsoft Office Comes to the Browser (Finally) — Microsoft announced this morning at its PDC conference that the next release of Microsoft Office will include browser-based versions of some of its main office software products - Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote.

Microsoft to Extend Office to the Browser — Q&A: Microsoft Senior Vice President Chris Capossela discusses how extending Office applications to the browser will increase choice and flexibility for customers. — As part of a strategic companywide shift toward embracing web-based solutions …

Blu-ray is dead - heckuva job, Sony! — Blu-ray is in a death spiral. 12 months from now Blu-ray will be a videophile niche, not a mass market product. — With only a 4% share of US movie disc sales and HD download capability arriving, the Blu-ray disc Association (BDA) is still smoking dope.

LinkedIn Means Business With New Application Platform — LinkedIn has launched its new OpenSocial-based application platform called InApps - an answer to the platforms found on social networks like Facebook and MySpace, but without the clutter and “junk” apps that plague those sites.

Introducing Y!OS 1.0 - live today! — Earlier this month, we introduced a revamped universal profile to all Yahoo! users - but that was just the tip of the iceberg. With the new profile page, you got a peek at our open vision, but today's Yahoo! Open Strategy (Y!OS) 1.0 platform launch gives you something to get your hands on.

Christian Science Paper to End Daily Print Edition — After a century of continuous publication, The Christian Science Monitor will abandon its weekday print edition and appear online only, its publisher announced Tuesday. The cost-cutting measure makes The Monitor the first national newspaper to largely give up on print.

Time Inc. Plans About 600 Layoffs — Time Inc., the world's largest magazine company, is set to announce a revamping that will result in job cuts of 6 percent — more than 600 positions — and a reorganization that could radically alter the culture at the venerable publishing house.

Psystar introduces Blu-ray bag of hurt to its Mac clones — There may be an ongoing lawsuit between the two companies, but that's not stopping Mac clone maker Psystar from moving forward with new product plans without Apple's approval. The company proudly announced today that it is now shipping …

Google Apps Goes Experimental with Google Labs — There is a widely held belief that technology progress in the enterprise is slow and methodical, that adoption cycles are long, and that experimentation is inappropriate. Here at Google we believe that experimentation is a good thing - even in the enterprise space.

Logitech Buys SightSpeed For Video Conferencing — Logitech, a Swiss maker of computer peripherals has acquired video conferencing software maker SightSpeed of Berkeley, Calif. for approximately $30 million in cash. The deal is expected to close sometime in November and will have no material impact on Logitech's business.

Twitter developer claims the “the internet is built wrong” — In a recent article, Alex Payne, API Lead at Twitter, claims that the internet is broken. While some of his arguments may have merit, it's a shockingly bizarre PR tactic to come out against something (especially the internet) when your own stuff is broken.

BlackBerry Fund Plants Its First Seeds — The BlackBerry Partners Fund — a new venture capital fund to invest in start-ups making applications for mobile phones — announced Wednesday that it has made its first three investments: Buzzd, a mobile city guide; Digby, for mobile shopping; and WorldMate, for planning and managing trips.

Rumor roundup: iPhone 2.2 firmware details — Apple has given developers a taste of the new iPhone firmware, version 2.2 beta 2, and it includes a host of spiffy new features that are making the rounds online. — A tipster shared with us some screenshots of the new firmware …